Setting up a BookBub Ads campaign only takes a few clicks, but we often get questions about what creative designs work best.
To provide some inspiration as you plan your next campaign, we’ve rounded up 20 of the top-performing BookBub Ads designs from the 150K+ ads partners ran over the past year. These all reached large audiences and generated high click-through rates. Let’s dive in!
1. The Trouble with Dukes by Grace Burrowes
There’s a lot that works well in this ad: the large book cover, enticing blurb, contrasting call-to-action (CTA) button, and promise of a sale all helped this ad get many clicks.
2. The Orphan’s Tale by Pam Jenoff
Don’t want to design an ad? No problem — this advertiser used BookBub Ads’ creative builder to easily put together an effective ad by choosing a book and including some enticing copy.
3. An Ace and a Pair by Blake Banner
This ad effectively mentions a comparable author to catch readers’ attention without being misleading. We don’t recommend stating “For fans of [COMPARABLE AUTHOR]” by itself — this could confuse readers into thinking they’ll be getting a book by that comparable author. The wording in this ad makes the value prop clear by using an if-then statement.
4. Kitty Cat by May Sage
This paranormal romance ad has a great tagline. Coupled with the cover, enticing background image, and Kindle Unlimited logo, it was clear to KU readers they’d get a great free read.
5. 10-Minute Mindfulness by S.J. Scott and Barrie Davenport
We love how the bright colors in this ad exude the tone of this self-help book. The tagline makes the value proposition clear to readers, and the limited-time sale creates a sense of urgency.
6. Choke Cherry Canyon by Mike Attebery
Designed with BookBub’s creative builder, this ad hooks readers by highlighting a relevant comp author (whose fans the advertiser targeted) and subgenre.
7. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
We love the unique design of this literary fiction ad, which displays the book cover as half of the ad. The design is complete with a great blurb from a major publication and a clear CTA button.
8. End of Days by Mark Gimenez
Like the previous design, the book cover takes up half of the ad space, yet this design also includes a logline, clear CTA button, and two blurbs — and somehow still doesn’t feel overcrowded.
9. The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
Including a large cover image, the “bestselling” accolade, another recognizable title from the author, and a blurb from USA Today all made this an effective ad readers wanted to click!
10. Wedding Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
To effectively promote a discount, this advertiser highlights the new low price point in addition to a large cover image, major accolade, and clear CTA button.
11. We Can be Mended by Veronica Roth
This ad positions a short story as an “epilogue” to the bestselling Divergent series, teasing that readers will get to see more of one of their favorite characters.
12. You Do Something to Me by Bella Andre
Bold colors make this ad stand out in BookBub’s daily emails, while the tagline, large CTA button, and series title make it clear what readers are getting when they click.
13. Halo by R.C. Stephens
A pricing callout with a deadline encourages readers to quickly take advantage of this offer. We also love the enticing logline in big, easy-to-read text!
14. A Cowboy for Christmas by Celia Aaron
This ad is a wonderful example of a timely, holiday-themed promotion. From the ribboned book cover to the snowy background and the candy-cane frame, this ad appealed to readers in the holiday spirit.
15. Gone to Dust by Liliana Hart
To promote this new release, this designer featured a large image of the cover, the author’s accolades, and the author’s previous, recognizable series.
16. Mind Dimensions Omnibus by Dima Zales
This ad’s designer fit a lot into a small space without making it feel cluttered: a box set image, a quote, five-star imagery, a tagline, and a clear, contrasting CTA button.
17. The Denali Deception by Ernest Dempsey
We love this ad’s unique call-to-action text “Join the adventure,” which stands out from the usual “buy now” or “read now” text. Calling out the limited-time sale also creates a sense of urgency for readers to buy this book ASAP.
18. The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve
This ad boldly features the author’s name, which would be recognizable to the targeted audience (fans of the author and comparable authors). The name of her previous title in all-caps white text provides another point of recognition for readers, and the striking red background draws the eye.
19. The Prince by Skye Warren
This ad promoting a sale has a simple, clean design featuring a cover and five-star review, and puts the free price point front and center.
20. Underneath It All by Kate Canterbary
Many BookBub Ads feature a bold image appealing to targeted readers, but this one also incorporates the book cover to show what’s being advertised. Plus, “for a limited time” creates a sense of urgency.
Click here to set up a BookBub Ads campaign! And please feel free to reach out at partners@bookbub.com if you have any questions about strategy, results, or anything else about BookBub Ads.
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Click to tweet: If you’d rather be #amwriting than designing ads for book promos, here are great design examples to use as a starting point. These all got high CTRs! http://bit.ly/2ra6W16
